With all the guild changes, it looks like Blizzard really wants us to be in guilds and to stay in them. Contrary to what seems to be floating around, this has little to do with solo PvE. Keep soloing, Blizzard will not stop you, it's what has made WoW so successful.

However you can't do it anti-socially anymore; excluding everyone else. Blizzard wants you to be in a guild and they will make you want to be in a guild. Quest alone, play in a guild, that's the new path. Or maybe this is just me trying to validate my own playstyle, hoping it is "working as intended." I mostly solo these days, but on my alts without a guild channel, I feel lonely, trapped in an empty world like some sort of post-apocalyptic nightmare movie.

On the other hand, Blizzard is indicating with cross-server PUGs that they care more about you getting into groups than grouping with your server community. No longer does your guild tag represent anything and your name will be forgotten even sooner than usual. Your ninjaing antics and trash talk won't stick with you anymore, so be as big a jerk you want.

Is that cynical? Probably. But if you were around way back then, you might remember BGs when they were server-based. You might still remember some rivals, I know at the time I knew who was on the other side of my server. The factional rivalry was a huge part of the incentive to PvP.

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"but on my alts without a guild channel, I feel lonely, trapped in an empty world like some sort of post-apocalyptic nightmare movie"

You're catching the feeling very well. I feel a bit silly though about being so dependent on the "belonging" part. Maybe it would do me good to learn to play unguilded as well, facing the world standing on my own feet.

Time will tell, but nothing I've heard yet really convinces me that players who are okay guildless now will be much unhappier in the expansion.

Heirlooms can be a nice perk, but they also make your character overpowered for their level and cause them to physically skip content via the exp bonus.

Gold-related bonuses are nice enough, but players who are only buying from the NPC's have enough money for everything pre-70, and players who are buying stuff are going to have to find stuff to sell to support that habit, bypassing the bonus to looted gold.

If these are the big bad changes, Blizzard needs to get back to work, cause none of them would make me run for a guild.

@Larisa: You might find that it's easier to be immersed in the world when you don't have your head inhabited with green words from unseen people.

@Green Armadillo: I imagine Blizzard is taking it a bit slow. Remember how long it took to even have guild banks. They want to be careful to not destroy the foundation of WoW, which is the ability to play with a reasonable level of success in whatever social environment you want; alone, in small groups, in raids, guilded or alone, with strangers or friends, etc.